They (tomatoes) are delicious, he said, but it wasn't worth bringing them to the Baltimore market because he can get $5 a pound for them in Silver Spring.

Great, just like Washingtonians have driven up the cost of housing in Baltimore, now they are driving up the price of our tomatoes.

And that's the paradox of the "Eat Local" movement. We keep hearing how evil factory farms and factory food is and how we should eat locally produced vegetables, fruits, meat, and dairy. But then we see that the price can be higher than the supermarket stuff (yes, I know about the time and care it takes to grow nice veggies) and I wonder how the general public could afford to buy at the farners' markets. And how could all the local farmers provide enough produce for everyone in the Baltimore area? I guess the folks in Silver Spring can afford to pay higher prices than Baltimoreans, so they get the good stuff.

There have been recent news reports of a tomato blight, which may explain the high prices. Will the blight affect any local growers and/or local gardeners?

I bought some heirlooms this morning (Cherokee Purple and Brandywine) and also noticed the higher prices.

That said, they are beautiful, and we just made bacon and tomato sandwiches with the Cherokee and Truck Patch Farm bacon. They were absolutely worth it -- I think the flavor is up from last year. I don't like the higher prices, but the taste was incredible, so I don't feel ripped off.

the most beautiful haricots verts

Et c'est comment je sais que vous êtes prétentieux.

If the Westminster farmer who sold them to me uses the term, then I, an Important Food Professional, can too. Of course, his Silver Spring clientele is a little more worldly than I am. :-) EL

It has been a tough year for all tomatoes. Only my cherry tomatoes have ripened so far thanks to our cool rainy spring. Odd how we object to factory farming, but still expect local produce to march in lock step without regard to the weather.

You can blame it on a wholesaler in the south, Bonnie Plants, who sold infected plants to the big box stores like Walmart, K-Mart, etc. The fungus has spread throughout the NE and Mid Atl. states. Prices could go as high as $7 a pound this summer. My Son bought his plants from a local (NJ) nursery, all 24 of them are infected. The rain and cool temps have helped the fungus flourish. OTOH this should be a good year for sweet corn. Corn likes the wet conditions we've had.

I guess it is good that I can't tell the difference between the heirlooms and regular tomatoes. Something to be said for underdeveloped taste buds.

I was pretty disturbed to see the flower people selling PUPPIES. IT IS A FARMER'S MARKET. It really disgusted me and I left their stand when I saw what they were doing. No need to support back-yard dog breeders.

EEL, by that reasoning it would be better not to develop a taste for good wine.

I have saved alot of money since I admitted to myself that I can't tell the difference between good Cote du Rhone and Cornas, Cote Rotie or Hermitage. Same goes for Bourgone Rouge and any of Premier Cru and Grand Cru Burgundies. So in some ways you are right.

Yes, Cote du Rhone and Bourgone are nice because decent inexpensive reds are available. There are some pretty decent relatively inexpensive Languedoc reds as well. Best I can tell, drinkable inexpensive Bordeaux isn't available in these parts.

I read an article in the New York Times this week about a tomato blight in the Mid-Atlantic and New England this year, which in addition to the weather is resulting in few tomatoes this year. Obviously low yield equals higher prices. The article made it sound like if the weather doesn't get a lot warmer soon, which can kill off whatever is causing the blight, we're looking at a summer without many tomatoes.

Hal, the key to drinkable inexpensive Bordeaux is a liquor license for Trader Joe's.

The only blight on the romas my wife (the Other Canon) is growing is that they are apparently already tasty enough for the local critters to try to munch them.

EEL, my one experience buying wine from Trader Joe's (in Newport News, VA) was not a good one. I'm leery of trying that again.

We had dinner at Cinghiale tonight, which reminds me once again that I don't know anything at all about Italian wines. I'm not even sure how to go about trying to learn about them.

Everything in my garden is growing ver-r-r-ry slo-o-w-w-l-l-y-y because they're not getting enough hot sun. We need some trademark Bawlmer blazing days to mature the veg and herbs like they're supposed to. I'm beginning to wish for HOT weather. So, I've been going to Weber's Farm and paying $3.99/pound for their heirloom tomatoes. They're wonderful, but that's a lot of moolah for what should be a relatively inexpensive summer commodity. That being said, their Prudens Purple tomatoes made astoundingly good BLT's the other night. On the other hand, Weber's peaches and plums are reasonably priced and FAB-u-lously tasty!

By the way, anybody know why the Sun's software hasn't remembered personal information for the last couple of weeks? It's a real bore having to key it in every time I want to comment.

When I left the St. Louis region for Maryland 4 years ago I was getting all my wine from Trader Joes. Spanish and French wines at great prices.

For Italian wines start with Victor Hazen's book Italian Wine. I also suggest you visit Kermit Lynch's website.

Dottie, the redesign of the Sun's website (including the blogs) resulted in the inability of the blog pages to save one's personal information. A number of comments (complaints, I guess) were raised at the time, but the people in charge of the website redesign haven't fixed the problem, AFAIK.

if one can't tell the difference between regular tomatoes and good heirlooms, one probably can't tell the difference between dishwater and barolo.

If the blogware will not remember personal information, why do they still have a checkbox to "Remember personal info?" It does remember my Email address, and Firefox prompts me with the rest of my name when I type the first letter, so its not as bad as it could be. It is still better than Prof. McIntyre's blogware, where you can't copy and paste, can't use html tags, and can't even use the cursor keys to move around.

That last Anonymous was me.

Wow. I hope I have never had good heirlooms. I would like to try some. Perhaps, unbelievaboh, you can tell me a source of good heirlooms?

Although the tomato crop as a whole is not thriving this year because of the chilly weather, overcast skies, deluge of rain last month, lack of rain this month, etc, it is entirely possible to grow your own heirlooms.

The seeds are available over the internet. In a "normal" summer year, if you begin seeding them in April, you should have great plants by now.

And, they grow well in those hanging grower things too.

EEL, the Owings Mills farmer's market has had heirlooms for a few weeks now. I don't know how "local" they are, but they were really tasty.

I hit the farmers market and got tomatoes and they have no taste whatsoever. Got peaches and nectarines, hope they soften to become edible, I hate when they turn from hard to rotten.

Community garden is growing very slowly. No tomatoes in sight.

Better no tomatoes than I melt

Knopp's farm had tomatillas. I've got salsa verde for days!

I have no idea what OTOH is and I'm not interested enough to try to figure it out.

OMG Eve, WTF? OTOH BTW is no BFD FYI, LMAO & ROTFL

Eve, OTOH is an abbreviation for "on the other hand." Geeks sometimes change it to OTOT, or "on the other tentacle."

Has anyone had any luck at all finding good peaches this year? All the ones I've had from the farmers' market have been less than sweet and mostly mealy. Last year they were terrific. Probably all the spring and early summer rain is to blame.

I have been getting good peaches at the farm stand at McDonough and Painters Mill. I have one in my lunch from the Misty Valley stand at Shawan and Falls Road. After lunch I'll let you know how it was.

Just ate the peach from Misty Valley and it was good.

I went to my prom with Misty Valley

My prom date was Summer Raines.

My prom date was ironically named Olympic swimmer Misty Hymen.

I guess the folks in Silver Spring can afford to pay higher prices than Baltimoreans, so they get the good stuff.

Or...you can drive up to Pennsylvania or to the Eastern Shore and buy locally-grown produce for next to nothing. Make a day of it and make several stops along the way.

BTW, "haricots verts" typically refers not to the common green bean you find in supermarkets, but a long, very thin green bean...they're also called "french beans".

dcdiva- WHAT?

I wasn't there Sat. or I would have thrown a total fit.

I am pretty sure that is NOT legal. Find one of those market cops that tells us we can't BRING our dogs to the market (on leashes) and tell them to make those people STOP THAT!

Ooo puppies. What's the big deal? Did you think they were selling them as food?

Responsible breeders don't sell dogs to any comer with cash.

Dog selling update: I talked to market coordinator (Carole), and she assured me she would follow up with the flower people. She said she had visited their farm and knew they bred dogs, but that she too would have flipped her s#$% if she had seen the labradoodles in their cage being sold off like produce.

At any rate, looks like one of the other flower folks will be getting my business. Too bad, those guys had really great sunflowers.

Y'all bein' too harsh. Dogs have puppies and giving them homes is better then drownin' them.

Dogs have puppies

Neutered ones don't.

That was a different Chucky, btw. It wasn't the one who normally follows me around. I wouldn't get into this dog argument.

(Did you see the five-legged dog over in Unleashed today?)

There's a time & place to find a GOOD home for a puppy. The market is not that place!
Not to mention the difference between Giving a pet a home & profiting off its existence.
I mentioned this to Jill Rosen, author of the Unleashed blog here @ The Sun & she was concerned- dcdiva you might want to follow up.
Thank you so much for letting us know about this!!

Ah, yes, the doggie blog people, who think it is great to let dogs run off-lead in city parks, who don't clean up after their dogs, but who have a plethora of rules for the rest of us to follow with our pets.

I don't agree with selling backyard bred puppies, but sicking the doggie blog people on them is vicious.

Ok, Lissa.

When you spoke ill about Republicans, I let it slide. When you spoke ill about Christians, I let it slide. You are now speaking ill about dogs, and with that you have crossed the line.

My dog loves going to markets, festivals, sidewalk cafes and even the occasional tavern. Why would you deny him that, and why would you deny others the opportunity to see him happy?

RoCK,
Oh no you didn't.

Lissa, you remind me of W.C. Fields - you've got no use for kids OR dogs!

RoCK,
Run away----Run away!

You may force my dog onto a leash, but you'll never take away his freedom!

Lissa,

Reading (or writing) a dog blog does NOT mean I advocate random off-leash dogginess or not cleaning up after my dog.

But blogs about dogs CAN educate the public at large, just like blogs about, say food?

Thanks a lot, gang. What a bunch of spoil sports. Puppy fascists! And I had a great recipe for Labradoodle Fra Diavolo that I was going to try this weekend.

Dogs in cities belong on lead, both for their own protection and because it is the law (despite the city sending clear signals that it tolerates lawbreaking by dog owners, developers and other "taxpayers").

I raised a dog in a city (Detroit) which is much less pedestrian friendly than Baltimore, and never let him run off-lead. Yeah, it takes a lot of walking, but if you don't have time to take proper care of a dog, you shouldn't have one.

Conan is 17 and healthy, so those of you assuming I hate dogs because I don't like backyard breeders, humans who let their dogs off-lead or humans who don't clean up after their dogs are just making the common assumption that anyone who disagrees with you is evil, stupid and probably advocates for pedophilia, eating dogs and roasting kittens.

Blogs about dogs can be educational, but my trips to Unleashed have only shown self-congratulatory off-lead wanking. Those people don't love dogs, they love accessories with fur.

Dogs have puppies...

(Sigh) I am so tired of my Responsible Dog Ownership spiel.

TOMATOES TOMATOES TOMATOES TOMATOES

OK I'm done.

Terriergirl- You are too funny for words!

I LOVE Maryland tomatoes- They are the only kind I will eat (barring good romas or cherry tomatoes) and a good heirloom tomato is completely worth $3 to $4 a pound.
Personally I think it will be August before they are really good and I have always had better luck at Waverly market.
Better, RayRay?

Peaches: Reid's Orchard. They have stands at the Towson farmer's market (Thursday on Allegheny Ave.) and the Sunday farmer's market in downtown B'more (I83). I have always found consistently wonderful peaches, apples, pears, cherries, blueberries, and other yummies. Also - if you're in Anne Arundel Co - try Harris Orchard from Lothian. They're ususally at the Arnold farmer's market on Saturday and Laurel on Thursday. They ususally win blue ribbon and/or best in show at the State Fair for their awesome peaches.

Two Sundays ago, the cherries that I bought at Reid's looked good and, in fact, the top layer were quite good, but the rest of the box ranged from turning to moldy.

I'm willing to accept that the apricots that looked so good were mealy and that can't be helped, but this is Buyer Beware.

Thanks for the recommendations on where to find good peaches.

I think the people who sell puppies at a farmers' market are irresponsible. I'm sure many of those cute little puppies will end up unwanted, in shelters, or worse, once they grow out of the cute little puppy stage and keep peeing and pooping inside, chewing up shoes, and behaving badly because they were impulse buys and weren't given any training. I volunteer in the county animal shelter and also run a rescue organization, trying to find homes for too many "impulse" animals.

Were they heirloom puppies? I think that would make a difference.

I like to take my dog to Sonny's in NJ. I let him run around the restaurant off leash where he bites all of the non tipping children and their credit card slip taking parents. Then he leaves a little something on the carpet (which I don't clean up).After that we hit Golden West to harass the hipsters. Ah, good times.

RayRay is awesome.

i thought i saw michael vick perusing the labradoodles at the farmer's market. could there be a god that would let this happen?

RayRay - You never cease to amaze me! Another worthy CoTW.

I wanted to name a dog Conan but my dad insisted on Fido. I won't repeat what my Grandma suggested. Just last night I was re-reading Red Nails.

Please oh PLEASE help me find Peaches!

First, thanks for the entertainment. Second, there is no tomatoe worth 3-4 dollrs a pound, Silver Spring or Palm Springs. There ain't nothin' worth 3-4 dollars a pound. The price of tomatoes on the eastern shore is just as absurd as anywhere else. I bought two at Lowry's ( I will never go back ever!) and have decided not to eat them but dispaly them in a plexiglass case like Babe Ruth's 60th home run! You have to really work to find decent prices and the assertions that we are in a recession are by every indication of how much people are willing to spend.. vastly overestimated! Flea markets are a pretty good bet; got some good corn direct from the grower (a charming grump) at the Pasadena flea market. To afford the fruit at the farmers marets, you'd have to be extremely rich and still stupid. Dollar pears, apples? Sorry, I'll starve to death.

Right you are Ho Ho Joh. These prices today are unbelievable. When I was kid you could get a good pair of real leather shoes for less that ten dollars. A Coke at the fountain cost a nickel, and so did the Three Musketeers candy bar, which you really could split three ways. Nowadays you pay a buck for either of them. Who can afford such things anymore. Hmpph. Double Hmpph.

When I was kid you could get a good pair of real leather shoes for less that ten dollars.

You had feet?

You had feet?

Yes, but they were webbed.

I saw a sign this weekend for a farmer's market at Greenspring Station on Sunday afternoons. Has anyone been?

YumPo, I've said it before ... if you're near Parkville, go to Weber's Cider Mill Farm, a block from the Waltham Woods/Proctor Lane intersection. They grow their own produce, and right now it's bountiful! The peach varieties change about every two weeks, and they're all delicious! Last week I found Prudens Purple and Green Zebra heirloom tomatoes, as well as regular tomatoes. The last time I was there, they had both white sweet and bi-color corn. Get while the gettin' is good!

By the way, the Lauraville Farmer's Market is going great guns (Tuesdays, 4-8 PM). There are a dozen or so vendors of everything from "designer" Rice Krispies treats to pickles to smoked meats to produce from farms in Biglersville, PA and St. Mary's County. Last week the (Biglersville) farm stand had the MOST wonderful sour cherries (that made an amazing pie!). When I asked this week, they said last week was the last of them, so that explains why Eve's cherries were a mess.

Peaches

Woerner Orchards consistently has the best peaches and nectarines, including the heavenly white varieties of both, at the downtown farmers market. They frequently offer cut-rate baskets of fruit too small or ripe to garner full price - excellent for pies, but often perfect for eating out of hand that day or the next. Their stand is in the inner loop and they face out to the Fallsway. BTW, they also have fabulous apricots, raspberries, and come mid-fall, quince.

There are two produce stands off of the Mt. Carmel exit from I-83 that carry a variety of fruits and veggies, including tomatoes. The one does a heck of a crab business too - cooked and alive.

Lots of specialists argue that loan help a lot of people to live their own way, just because they can feel free to buy necessary stuff. Moreover, different banks give short term loan for different classes of people.